More homes and businesses in Rangiora and Kaiapoi connected to Enable fibre broadband in 2018 than just about any other community in Christchurch and the surrounding towns.

With 981 customers connecting in Rangiora and 945 in Kaiapoi, the towns were only beaten by Christchurch suburbs Parklands and New Brighton for the most connections in the year.

“It is fantastic to see the rate of connection in these two Waimakariri towns – with the number of connections in Kaiapoi particularly impressive having more than doubled from 900 to 1,845,” says Enable Chief Executive, Steve Fuller.

Across the entire Waimakariri area where fibre broadband is available – including Woodend, Mandeville and Tuahiwi – there are now over 6,000 customers enjoying fibre broadband.

Fibre broadband uptake in Rangiora (49 percent), Woodend (49 percent) and Kaiapoi (47 percent) is now in line with the national average of 48 percent*. The smaller towns, that have only had fibre broadband a short time, have lower uptake.

“We continue to urge Waimakariri residents to make the switch to fibre broadband as quickly as possible. We would love to see the uptake in Waimakariri towns match the likes of Rolleston (77 percent) and see these communities maximise the opportunities fibre broadband brings,” says Mr Fuller.

“Approximately 27,000 customers connected to fibre broadband during 2018 – our busiest year for connecting customers ever. It’s clear that more and more people are realising that they need the very best broadband service in their home in order to ensure that online experience is never interrupted,” says Mr Fuller.

“Having a super-fast, ultra-reliable broadband connection will be even more important in 2019 with the coverage for several leading sports moving to internet-based streaming. The Rugby World Cup is the big example and it’s only a few months away."

Customers are urged to order fibre broadband now because Enable does not currently charge for residential fibre broadband installations.

“We have been offering free installation on all residential fibre broadband connections since 2013 – so for the last six years. Our current free residential connection offer comes to an end across most of our coverage area at the end of 2019**,” says Mr Fuller.

Top ten suburbs and towns for new Enable fibre broadband connections in 2018:

Parklands – 1,223

New Brighton – 1,053

Rangiora – 981

Kaiapoi – 945

Saint Albans – 880

Christchurch CBD – 841

Rolleston – 838

Halswell – 781

Woolston – 731

Cashmere – 652

Top ten suburbs and towns for Enable fibre broadband uptake:

Rolleston – 77%

Wigram – 76%

Harewood – 73%

Lincoln – 69%

Halswell – 68%

Burnside – 66%

Avonhead – 62%

Casebrook – 62%

Ilam – 62%

Bryndwr – 61%

Uptake in Waimakariri towns:

Rangiora – 49%

Woodend – 49%

Kaiapoi – 46%

Mandeville – 27%

Tuahiwi – 12%

*Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Broadband Deployment Update to 30 September 2018.